Plankton Flying Wing

[Andy.I]

Browsing through a pile of plans I found something that interested me, an electrically powered plank designed by E.D. Leadley. It's a 46" flat untapered 46" wing with 11.5" chord and upturned 5.5" tips. The plan specifies power by a Speedgear 400 or 600 in the nose or, interestingly, by a pair of Speedgear 400 mounted on pairs of 1/4" dowels extending from the leading edge of each wing.

Powered by a brushless motor it would be suitable for flat field flying or unpowered as a sloper but I have a problem: while the plan shows that a fin was fitted it doesn't actually show the fin!

I don't think this plan was supplied with a magazine because there are no staple holes, and I have been unable to discover anything about this model or the designer on the web.

Does anybody know this model, or has anybody built it and can tell me about the fin please?

Edited By Andy.I on 07/03/2019 13:50:55

[Denis Watkins]

Found this

E.F.-U.K.. E D L Plans. Specialists in Plans and Accessories for Electric Flight. E D Leadley, 3 The Glade, York. YO31 1LA. 01904 422615. Email:- [email protected].

[Andy.I]

Thank you Denis, that's useful. i've sent Eric an email.

[fly boy3]

Hi Andy, I too would be interested in this project. Would it be cheeky of me if I could ask you to post some more details here when they are available ? Cheers. ps is it balsa or Depron.

[Andy.I]

Hi fly boy 3,

Construction is traditiopnal balsa. I hope the picture helps explain my words below.

After a bit of detective work I discovered that my deceased uncle actually contacted Eric over Facebook in 2014 for a replacement plan stating he enjoyed his first version so much that he wanted another plan so he could build a second one. (He was a woodwork teacher and he had a habit of giving models to his pupils. )

As well as the issue of the missing fin details there are some other anomalies with this plan:

- the inside of the fuselage's nose are lined with strips of 1/2" right angled balsa. This is usually done so the hard edges can be faired in to the spinner, but the fuselage's sides are 3/32" balsa lined with 1/32" ply doublers. Unless the doublers are sanded away it will look rather peculiar with a spinner stuck to a flat firewall with exposed corners.

- the top view of the spinner suggests 1-11/16" diameter while the side view suggests 1-15/16".

While it shouldn't be too hard to work around these issues and even guesstimate a suitable size for the fin, I'd rather have a word with Eric to see what he suggests. From his communication with my uncle he appears to be a nice and helpful chap and I when I do contact him I'll ask him if he'll supply you with a copy.

Edited By Andy.I on 08/03/2019 13:05:47

[fly boy3]

Thanks Andy, looks a good one, also not into Depron yet lol. Thanks for the offer. Cheers

[Andy.I]

Well Eric just called me. He's been out of modelling since he lost his wife a number of years ago and he now concentrates on cycling and dancing; he's 83 years old! I had a fascinating chat with him and he's a very nice chap indeed.

Things are now clear - there's another sheet to the plan - a half sheet, which is the first time I have seen that. It has details of the ribs, formers and fin. I didn't twig this because there is enough information on the main sheet to work out the ribs (untapered wing), formers and the fin.

He's putting a copy in the post to me.